She determined there was a direct relationship between the period of a star's dimming and the star's intrinsic brightness. Leavitt observed that Cepheid stars with long periods were relatively brighter than Cepheid stars with short periods. Through close observation and sustained attention, Leavitt noticed a significant pattern in the appearance of Cepheid stars, a type of variable star that varies in brightness with a regular "period" (the time it takes for a star to cycle between all levels of brightness). She painstakingly examined every star – each photographic plate contained thousands of stars – looking for the smallest change in brightness. Leavitt had to compare pairs of photographs, recorded on plates of glass, taken of the same part of the sky on different nights. Pickering assigned Leavitt the task of studying variable stars, a type of star that varies in brightness over time.Ĭataloging variable stars was tedious work. Some of the women from this group, called "computers," classified stars by their colors, brightness, and spectra. These skilled workers were not allowed to operate telescopes, but they contributed to the analysis of data that led to major scientific discoveries. With a newfound interest in astronomy, and the financial support from her family, Leavitt opted to volunteer as a research assistant at the Harvard College Observatory.Įdward Pickering, the observatory's director, brought together a group of women to catalog all the stars captured on Harvard's photographic plate collection. In her final year, she took a course on astronomy at the Harvard College Observatory.īy the end of the nineteenth century, the number of women with college degrees had increased tremendously, but there were still few professional positions available to women with a formal college education and even fewer in the sciences. There she studied art, philosophy, language, and mathematics. She first enrolled at Oberlin College before transferring to Harvard University's school for women, later named Radcliffe. Leavitt was born in Massachusetts in 1868 and was one of a small group of women in the United States who had the opportunity to attend university. On the centennial of her death, we reflect on her life and legacy. Leavitt lived a short but deeply impactful life, during which her achievements failed to receive sufficient recognition. After nearly 30 years at the Harvard College Observatory, Leavitt and her stars, hidden by rain clouds, parted ways. On the evening of December 12, 1921, as 53-year old astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt succumbed to cancer, heavy rains fell from the skies over Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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